Taste of Cincy

As I promised on my last post, summer will be filled with more food than ever, and #IlPiattoneACincy has officially begun.

As an intern on weekdays and a foodie on weekends, I plan on having weekly posts since I have two months to make sure to get the best out of Cincinnati (foodwise obviously); and what better way to begin my food journals than with the longest running food festival in America?

Taste of Cincinnati was the perfect welcoming to my home for the summer; with infinite stands of Cincy’s best restaurants with tempting prices for all the popular and usually expensive dishes, I found myself feeling quite at home already.

We did lots of research before heading to the festival since we didn’t want to miss any of Taste’s musts, so here’s the route we took to take advantage of the best of the festival:

Stop one: Market Street Grille for the winner of first place for the best salad: the Black and Bleu Tuna. For those looking for a healthier yet delicious option this should be your top choice. It was perfectly crispy on the outside and fresh on the inside, complimented with lettuce, feta, and sundried tomatoes.

Stop two: Bella Luna‘s Chocolate Chip/Blueberry Bread Pudding, that nonsurprisingly took the first place for best dessert. This was hands down the best bread pudding I’ve ever had (and this statement was backed up by my sister who is a bread pudding connoisseur).

Stop three: in this point we had made our way into the Food Truck alley where I sort of lost control with so many options, but settled for something that I just couldn’t walk past; an “arepa pelua” which means hairy arepa and is really just an arepa filled with beef at the Empanadas Aqui food truck. As a Venezuelan I must say it was exquisite and I plan on tracking the truck down to try the empanadas.

Stop four: finally we ended our gastronomic tour with the Sea Salted Belgian Waffle with Caramel Sauce topped with Maker’s Mark Bourbon Whipped Cream from Marty’s Waffles which was definitely the perfect dessert and ending for the afternoon.

In conclusion, if you are ever present in a Taste of *any city* do not hesitate in attending, so far I’ve been to Taste of DC, and Taste of Cincinnati, and it’s impossible to have a bad time if it involves large varieties of food and a nice day out.

Buon Appetito,

Oriana.

P.S.: follow me on my Instagram @ilpiattone for more food pics and places!